


No Strings Attached

by Net_Foyet



Category: Tom Clancy, Tom Clancy's The Division
Genre: Cussing, Dark Zone, F/M, Gun Violence, Heated Encounter, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, LMB, Manhattan, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Mild Sexual Content, One Night Stands, Original SHD Agent, Other, Rogue Agent, SHD Agent - Freeform, Sharing Body Heat, The Division, Tom Clancy's, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-20 09:37:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10659861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Net_Foyet/pseuds/Net_Foyet
Summary: What was supposed to be a quick trudge through the Dark Zone turned into the worst nightmare for SHD Agent, Ellen Crane. Not only because of the rogue agent, LMB, or Rikers that wanted to torture her just for pleasure but because within the cold, hazardous waste of the DZ, Ellen runs into an old flame





	1. Chapter 1

Ellen Crane  
Age: 29  
Gender: Female  
Occupation: EMT  
Last Known Location: Murray Hill, headed westbound toward D.Z.

 

Taking shelter in a rundown comic store from the heavy blizzard that blew through the southern part of Manhattan, SHD Agent Ellen Crane was trying to get ahold of Fae Lau back at base. Unfortunately, the storm was heavier than normal, winds reaching breaking point that all she could get was static and white noise. Rummaging through the massive mess, Crane tried to find any electronics she could; anything would help. Yet, the damn rioters hijacked the better items.  
Cursing, knowing she couldn’t stay here, lest she wants to run into rioters or worse… Ellen activated her map and tried to find the best route back. She was all the way in Murray Hill, a street’s length from an entrance to the Dark Zone. She had never been in the quarantined area and had no desire to ever enter it unless it was an emergency. Yet, it was the fastest way back to base... Going through the most dangerous place Ellen would ever be.  
Turning off her map, she sent a single pulse from her location and found that three LMB soldiers were walking in her direction. It was now or never.  
She could always just stay there and hope they don’t come to investigate, but she would not be so lucky. Wrapping up, a switching to her pistol in case this whole idea went to shit, Ellen burst from her hiding spot just as the LMB rounded the corner of the block. Noticing her movement, they armed themselves but by the time they reached the disturbance, Ellen had already reached the gate of the Dark Zone.

As soon as she swung over, she immediately regretted her decision. This was a one-way entrance. Her contamination sensors going haywire, she pulled on her rebreather and pulled out her assault rifle. Thankful that it was not so windy, Ellen moved forward, all she had to do was to keep going straight but she had to keep moving, he longer she remained within the Dark Zone, the less safe she would be; and with sensitive information she received about the Cleaners, there was an even bigger target painted on her back.

It was starting to get dark, Ellen knew she would be no good if she was sleep deprived, she needed to find a place to make camp; even if it was just for small hours. 

She was just turning the corner from East 37st and 5th Ave, south of Bryant Park and just thinking she could make camp in the old corner bank that was now decimated, when she realized only too late, what rolled at her feet.

That blinding flash of white light stung her eyes, the loud ringing reverberated painfully in her ears. Stumbling, trying to see but only seeing triple, Ellen was suddenly kneed in the gut and fell on all fours.

Over the sounds from the flashbang still echoing, she vaguely heard muffled laughing. Her sight came back first and she saw three pairs of feet in front of her.

“Look at what we’ve got ‘ere. A little girl lost in the woods. And no ordinary civilian, a Division agent we’ve caught.” A rough hand grabbed the scruff of her collar, lifted her up and harshly pressed her back against the cement wall.

“Actually,” Ellen said, going for snarky instead of scared shitless. “I was just running to the bank, got lost on my way.”

Barking laughter through his rebreather, Ellen could see the sneer in his bloodshot eyes. And on his shoulder, she saw the patch of an LMB soldier. Clipped to his bag were trophies of his kills. “Quiet the mouth this one has. What say you, boys? Shall we have fun with her?”

The guy to the right, who was dressed in an orange jumpsuit and holding a heavily modded assault rifle suggested. “Let’s string her up and use her as target practice.”

“As much as I’d love to stay and chat,” Ellen weakly smiled, feeling his knuckles pressing against her windpipes, “I have a previous engagement, so if you could just let me go, we all can forget this little encounter ever happened.”

“Ha, make peace with what you have, girlie. Your life will end here.” He aimed his pistol to her head, stark white, she felt as his other hand gripped tightly around her neck. She knew what he wanted. He wanted her to beg for her life, to beg for mercy.

She would not give in. Out of the corner of her eye, she happened to look at the second floor of where the bank used to be. There were several quick flashes of light in one spot and Ellen knew exactly what that meant. 

“I think I should go.” She managed a whisper, it became harder to breathe.

“I think not.”

“Your choice” She shrugged. Kneed him as hard as she could in his crotch and grabbed his sleeve, pulled her head away as he pulled the trigger.  
Hearing the shot in her right ear as the bullet impregnated the cement, the ringing noise was back as Ellen dropped to the ground.

Everything happened so fast. As she was holding her ears, trying to stop the ringing, three gunshots went off and the three men that had surrounded her, were lying dead on the sidewalk. 

Coughing, trying to learn how to breathe again from the asshole’s tight grip, she finally tried to get up, she heard someone stalking towards her from the other side; it had to have been whoever saved her. Or, maybe they were just warming her up and letting her drop her guard when they attacked. She was just about to see her rescuer, or lack thereof when he aimed his own weapon at her and said harshly. 

“Not outta the woods yet, Goldilocks.”

Coughing to hide her laughter, Ellen said, well aware of the consequences, “Actually, it was Red Riding Hood that was lost. Not Goldilocks.”  
“Do you honestly have a death wish? What’s an agent like you doing here… what the fuck.”

Ellen had glanced up and saw he had a black ski mask on, a rebreather, and heavy goggles over his eyes. She couldn’t see him, but he dropped his weapon and asked again. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

Glaring, seeing that she wasn’t going to be shot at, she stood and brushed off the dirt, “Thanks, asshole. I don’t even know who you…” She stared wide-eyed as he pulled off the hat and goggles. “Aidan… Aidan Spears? I thought you were dead!”

Affronted, the man, who had green emerald eyes and sandy brown hair that had grown out the last time she saw him, over a year ago, said in a snarky voice. “They can’t kill me.”

She saw the orange light on his wristwatch and back. “You’re an agent? I thought you were a cop!”

“I thought you were an EMT!” Aidan retorted, harshly. 

Firing daggers at each other, they both couldn’t help but think that one-night stand. After they had a little too much to drink at the bar, they went back to his apartment on the East side, downed some more shots, and spent the rest of the night enjoying every single bit of each other’s company. By the time dawn had risen, Aidan’s entire apartment smelled of sex. 

Ellen thought that, for a man in his thirties, he had excellent stamina, and Aidan thought that while she was no spring chicken, her agility was phenomenal; though, after that night, they both knew there were no strings attached, and they would never see each other again.  
Or so they thought.

“So, did you lie about being an EMT? Is Ellen even your real name?”

“Are you really a cop? Or were you a meter maid?” she retorted angrily. 

Furious at her, a small alarm set off on his watch and he activated his pulse. They both found eight enemies and a rogue agent; they were a hundred feet, and getting closer.

“Come on, sweetheart.” He ordered bitterly, grabbed her wrist and they ran back to his nest.

“Get your hand off of me, I can run!” she huffed proudly, pulling her hand from his and following him.

“Then do it, AH!” he ducked and cursed just as the first shot fired.

He survived four months in the Dark Zone, he fought back, took down rogue agents and ring leaders, no way was his survival streak going to end here just because he felt sorry for the woman. Jesus, what was she even doing here? He had no idea she was an agent, then again, no one knew their allies until they were activated. But of all people, all million souls in Manhattan, it had to be her.

As soon as they made it to the floor where he had been hiding, both he and Ellen took cover where they could and retaliated. As a storm started brewing around them, obscuring their vision, Ellen set off her pulse and equipped her marksman rifle.

As he watched her fire a perfect shot and dropped a rioter, he commented, “Remind me never to get on your bad side. And here I thought you were just a tame little bunny!”

Angrily as she killed another of their enemies, she commented, “Are you always this much of an asshole? Or is it just me?”

“You tell me, sweetheart!” with his assault rifle he dropped the enemies that were getting closer. “You were the one hitting on me that night!”

“To which you responded positively,” Ellen retorted. “You’re the one who suggested we go back to your ‘pad’ for more drinks.”

“I was off duty and wanted to have fun. You were willing to provide,” he took down the last rioter; only the rogue agent remained. “And boy, did you provide. Tell me sweetheart, was your last job in Bangkok?”

“Stop calling me ‘sweetheart’!” she had just dodged a bullet that flew past her, before moving to another position as her cover was nearly destroyed. The rogue agent set up a turret forcing Aidan and Ellen to wait for it to stop.

As he reloaded his weapon, Aidan said, “You didn’t seem to mind so much when you were on top!”

“Shut up!”

“Oh, now she wants me to be quiet, despite your moaning and wanting to hear me talk… Did you think I forgot that night? Jesus, that was the best night of my life.” when the turret paused, Aidan fired in the general direction the agent was hiding.

“Is that all you ever talk about? Is sex- OW!” Ellen cursed, her weapons crashed to the ground, Aidan found that her arm was bleeding heavily. He pulled out of cover and ran to her side. 

“You alright?” 

“Yeah, she grunted, just hurts like shit, is all.” She answered sarcastically.Aidan smiled, as much as he was angry at her, he loved that she was wild on the battlefield as well as in bed.

With only the rogue agent left, Aidan grabbed Ellen’s rifle and aimed for the agent, when he saw a bomb near him. Just as the agent was pulling out a grenade, Aidan quickly changed sights to the booby trap on the side of the building. He fired, and the ground shook as it erupted. Fire and smoke billowed from the wall, papers and plastic that was lined near it were smothered with flames. Setting the rifle down, Aidan knelt by Ellen and tended to the wound. They were oddly quiet, it was over a year since they were this close.

Helping her up, they stared down at where the agent was. 

“Think we should notify his status to Base?”

“Naw,” Aidan stretched, “Let ‘im burn for a while. I’ve been after that bastard for months.”

“What did he do?” 

Staring at her, wondering if he should tell her the truth, he sighed, “He joined Keener’s ranks, killed my best friend and the hostages he was protecting.” 

“Sorry.” Ellen whispered as she holstered her weapon. 

“It’s alright. Come on, we need to get out of this weather.”

“Where are we going? I need to get back to base.”

He stared at her. “You chanced the Dark Zone, just to get to base? Are you insane?”

“Apparently, seeing as you’re here.” She retaliated.

Trying not to groan, Aidan said. “Come on. The weather is too dangerous.”


	2. Chapter 2

Walking for thirty minutes in silence, Ellen followed Aidan to a decimated building. They walked up five flights and into a room with a generator running, Ellen passed a decontaminator and gazed around. Whoever lived here before was certainly dead; but, they were most likely one of the first victims. On the wall near the mirror, were tacked papers and scribbled writing. The person obviously had an inclination of conspiracy theories and tried to pinpoint the origin of the strain… with no success.

Studying the wild diagram, Ellen asked: “This is where you stay?”

“Yeah. It’s not cozy like the Base of Operations, but again I don’t have to share it with anyone.”

There was the sting of silence both, were drained from fighting each other and their common enemy, but Ellen remembered just how alone he was when they had first met; it was clear that their lives were far too different, that even if they wanted strings attached, a working relationship would have been impossible.

“Ellen, come here,” he dropped his equipment and motioned for her to do so. He took her arm and said, “I need to properly clean your wound. It’ll infect quickly.” 

Following him to the bathroom, she took off her clothes until it was just her tank top. Sitting on the side of the tub, she kept directing him what to do.

“I know, Jesus. I’ve only lived on my own for my entire life.” She smiled but that faded when he continued. “Would you have been this nagging if we had hooked up?”

“I don’t know what was going to happen.” She said. “A month after we… I was going to call you when everything went to shit. God knows how many times I started dialing your number… But, we had agreed and I was afraid that you would follow through on the rules we set.”

“Tell me about it.” He sighed, “You know, I tried to find you before I was activated.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, you gave me your address, I went there as soon as I heard about the plague… I was told it was near you. Tried to call, no answer. Your room was destroyed, everything was strewn about… like someone trashed it looking for supplies. I thought you were dead.”

He bound the wound and wrapped a bandage around it, then pulled a jug of filtered water and washed his hands. 

“I was a part of the first wave.” Ellen said, glancing down at the drain, “I was sent in, trying to work with C.E.R.A. and cure as many as we could… it was just too much.”

They walked back to the couch in the middle of the room and lay on opposite edges, watching each other with mixed emotions. 

“So, what happens now?” Ellen asked after a moment of silence. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” she sat up, careful not to move her arm too much, “We can’t exactly forget that night, and now that we know we’re both alive…”

He too sat up and they were less than a foot apart. “What? You want a relationship?”

“I’m not saying this exact moment… but, if we ever get out of this shit-show, well…”

“What would Fae Lau think of this?”

“Seriously?”

He grinned, “Considering we’re still on the job, I wonder if we can even fraternize with our associates…”

“Shut up.” Ellen grinned and pushed him, “We’ve already broken that rule. Whether we knew or not.”

He suddenly grabbed her good arm, leaned back and pulled her into a deep kiss. Ellen had almost forgotten how good he was. She closed her eyes, wishing this wouldn’t end as she returned the embrace, her fingers massaging his neck; she recalled every sensitive spot he had, she knew what turned him on. This feeling of elation, of want… it was so preferable than being scared than trying not to feel anything as they had to kill their fellow anarchical-gun toting- trigger happy humans in order to survive.

His hands were more rough since last time, but that did not bother her in the slightest, anything was better than feeling fear.  
As they broke apart to breathe, dizzy with remembrance and lips were swollen with wanting, Aidan laughed. “I just realized why we needed each other, why I wasn’t able to forget you so easily.”

Head resting near his neck, grinning, Ellen asked. “Why?”

“We’re both alphas of our own species.”

She picked her head up and smirked at him with a dark lusty glint in her eye. “You’re an idiot if you just realized that.”

“What can I say? You were and still are irresistible and if we weren’t stuck in the position we’re at, I wouldn’t mind repeating that night.”

“Ha, make it a yearly meet-up.” She joked and teased him by rubbing her leg against his.

With a sharp inhale, he grabbed the back of her head and pulled her into a hard, desperate kiss. “Or every night. But, I suppose we have a job to finish.”

Laying back down on his chest, Ellen thought hard about that. After tonight, when would they see each other again? Would it really be a whole year before they met again? Or, what would happen to them if SHD did manage to repair Manhattan’s system? Would they go back to their lives, hooking up a few nights a week when they weren’t fighting the clock? 

She fell asleep with the questions still on her mind, Aidan was everything she had wanted, strong, proud, fearless, total alpha like her… yet even recruited in the same organization their lives were completely separate and she feared that would always remain so.

The next morning came all too soon. Ellen awakened, on her side, Aidan was behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist, his steady breath brushing against her cheek. They had fallen asleep on the couch with him spooning her for warmth.

Even though the couch was not the best place to sleep, she didn’t mind as he was there with her.

“Holy shit, Elle,” Aidan whispered. “You’re a heater.”

Grinning, Ellen held clasped her hands over his, “When I’m this close to someone I can’t stop thinking about…” she thought about that. “Yeah, it sounds cheesy.”

“I don’t think so.” He kissed her cheek.

“Truly?” she asked in a normal tone.

He laughed. “You got me. That was cheesy as sin, but, it’s still nice to hear sappy sentences like that. Makes me believe that there is a future.”  
She turned her head to see him glancing at her. Grinning, he leaned in and they kissed awkwardly.

An hour later, it was still dark outside, Aidan and Ellen got dressed and grabbed their equipment; it was time to return to reality…  
“I can take you as far as the exit of the Dark Zone.” He said as they headed out.  
“You’re not coming with?”

“I can’t, Elle.” They were out in the cold morning. The heavy clouds obscuring any sunlight. They were less than a few blocks from the barrier, and it was a very quiet morning. “I still have a job to do here.”

“Think we’ll be able to see each other again?”

“I’m counting on it.” He grinned. 

At the wall, where she had to climb over, Ellen turned to face him. “Promise to be safe.”

“In this job? You know better than that, Elle.”

She punched him then pressed her rebreather against his, longing to kiss him. He knew the gesture and they each felt the ghost of their kiss with quivering lips.

“I’m giving you my comm signal. You ever need help, you can find me.”

She was about to reply when shots fired and embedded into the wall behind them. They both took cover and unholstered their weapons.  
“Elle, go!” Aidan drew fire to him, giving her a chance to escape.

“Not leaving you like this!” she responded angrily, throwing a smoke bomb and giving them a moment of peace as their enemies coughed and tried to see. She shot down any rioter who was thrown from cover.

“Not giving you a choice!” he grabbed her collar and threw her to the gated wall. “Now!” 

She jumped up, using the higher ground as an asset. There were ten rioters who attacked, four were dead. As the smoke cleared, Ellen jumped the fence out of the Dark Zone, she could only pray that Aidan made it.

“Alright, you assholes.” Aidan chided them, activating his pulse and planning his attack. “Let’s have some fun.”


End file.
